SELF-ESTEEM AND REACTIONS TO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK - TOWARD GREATER GENERALIZABILITY

Much research has shown that negative feedback has different motivational consequences for low- and high-self-esteem persons (low and high SEs, respectively). Primarily on the basis of laboratory experiments of task performance, it has been suggested that low SEs are much more likely than high SEs to become demotivated in the face of negative feedback. The present studies sought to explore the generalizability of such findings to (1) a more naturalistic setting (Study 1) and (2) a behavioral domain different from task performance (Study 2). Study 1 explored the impact of students' self-esteem and feedback from an initial course examination on their subsequent exam performance. As expected, low SEs performed much worse than high SEs subsequent to the receipt of negative feedback; following positive feedback the two groups performed equally on the subsequent exam. In Experiment 2, participants played the role of managers who had just received feedback that their willingness to communicate certain information either elicited negative outcomes (negative feedback condition) or did not (control condition). As predicted, low SEs expressed much less motivation than high SEs to communicate related information in the former than the latter condition, especially if the negative feedback was more threatening to their well-being in the organization. There were no differences between the two groups in the control condition. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the findings are discussed. © 1987.